Montanans Aren't Cowards, Its Just That Their Congressional Representatives Are.

I had to put a fine line on what Gail Collins had to say in her excellent, snark filled column today. The NIMBY fears in Montana are obviously all about their Senators and Representatives in Congress, not about the citizens who put them there:

Instead, consider the case of Hardin, Mont., a community of 3,400 people just down the road from the place where Custer made his Last Stand.

Lately, things have not been going any better for Hardin than they did for the general. Unemployment is rife. “You go look at our downtown, there’s many closed businesses ... you’ll see drunks laying in the street. It’s not a pretty sight,” the head of the town’s economic development authority told National Public Radio. The town built a $27 million, 464-bed prison under the theory that other parts of the state would pay to have Hardin look after their problem residents. But it’s been empty since it was declared open for business nearly two years ago, and the construction loans are in default.

So, with the town council’s enthusiastic support, Hardin volunteered to take the Guantánamo prisoners.

It’s unlikely that the White House would have accepted the offer, but it was certainly an example of pluck and you’d think everyone would give Hardin three cheers. Instead, Montana’s Democratic senators went ballistic.

“We’re not going to bring Al Qaeda to Big Sky Country — no way, not on my watch,” said Max Baucus.

“If these prisoners need a new place, it’s not going to be anywhere near The Last Best Place,” said Jon Tester.

This shows us two things:

1) Montana has given itself many nicknames.

2) Montanans are more easily frightened than Manhattanites.

Think about it. New Yorkers live in the top terror target in the nation. This week four new would-be terrorists were arrested for plotting to blow up synagogues in the Bronx. On the same day, President Obama announced that the first Guantánamo prisoner to be tried in the United States would be coming to court in Lower Manhattan.

Even though it appears the guys involved in the Bronx case were deeply, deeply inept, this is still not the kind of news package you want to hear. But nobody had a fit over it. “Bottom line is we have had terrorists housed in New York before,” said Senator Charles Schumer.

I really believe that if someone were to go around and poll the citizens living in the vicinity of SuperMax prisons you would find that none of them are afraid of having GITMO detainees housed there. Its just that the bubble is so strong in the beltway that CongressCritters, espcially Democrats, are afraid that pulling the trigger will hurt them come election time. You see its not the citizens are afraid, its the lawmakers and that is a very dissappointing development.

GITMO And Transparency

Today President Obama delivered a speech on National Security. Here is the video.

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Here are what I thought were the high points of the speech.

First President Obama led of the speech by going through all of the measures he has initiated since assuming office that helps our national security including redirecting resources to the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, investing in 21st century technology to help with intelligence, working on nuclear non proliferation that will attempt to track down all "loose nukes" within the next four years, protecting the border, renewing alliances in the war on terror and renewed diplomacy. He said our fundamental values are what help keep us safe and that the founding documents of our country are what we need to cling to in our search for liberty and justice. He made the point that we can't turn our back on those values just for expediency sake.

He made the point that in the past WE were the ones who shut down torture chambers from all over the world.

He made the point that post 9-11 we had to come up with new tools in order to prevent attacks along with prosecuting them after they had been committed or attempted.

He said in the past (see during the Bush Administration) we made national security decisions out of fear rather than facts for expediency's sake.

"We went off course"

Obama made the point that both he and Senator John McCain called for the closing of GITMO and the voters in both parties made them their general election candidates which indicates they agree.

The President before he came into office we were working with an ad hoc legal approach to fight terrorism which was neither effective nor sustainable.

I liked that President Obama used the phrasing "so called" in reference to EITs which most of us know is just a euphemism for torture.

President Obama said HE is the one who sees all of the intelligence and he categorically rejects the notion that waterboarding was or is the most effective method of gaining information and that it undermines the rule of law, is a recruitment tool for terrorists, increases the will of our enemies who will no longer surrender because they believe we will torture them, puts our troops' lives in danger, and did not advance our war on terror.

He made note of the fact that Senator McCain has also spoken out about the propaganda value of torture for terrorists trying to recruit more people into their ranks.

Obama shifted to closing GITMO. He talked about the fact that the Military Commisions have only convicted 3 detainees in 7 years.

The President pointed out that in 2006 the Supreme Court invalidated the Military Court system.

He points out that the whole premise of opening GITMO was to put detainees somewhere that the Bush Administration felt they could hold them beyond the law and that the Supreme court rejected that notion.

He says GITMO itself helped to weaken our National Security.

President Obama asserts that the costs of keeping GITMO open far exceed any complications from closing it.

Obama also pointed out that he was cleaning up a mess that he hadn't created.

He says the problems that exists aren't from GITMO closing, they are from GITMO opening in the first place.

He refuses to pass this problem off to the next President.

He calls out those who have politicized the issue of closing GITMO with fear mongering. He said that those who would do this are using their words to scare people rather than solve the problem.

Unequivical statement that he will not release anyone who threatens national security and or the American people.

He points out that some detainees will end up in SuperMax prisons where nobody has ever escaped in the history of this country.

He references a statement from Senator Lindsey Graham where he said the notion that we couldn't handle these detainees in American jails is ridiculous.

President Obama put detainees into 5 categories.

1. Those that will be tried in federal courts. Points out we have tried many terrorists in federal courts for a long time.

2. Those who have violated the laws of war will be tried into the military commisions courts which have been a tradition in this country. He points out that this is not a reversal of his position and that in 2006 he wanted reform of the military commission that did not happen but he didn't reject the institution outright. He further stated that he will put in the reforms now that he called for then to make them compliant.

3. Those who have been ordered released by the courts of which there are 21 people who fall into that category now. 19 of those 21 were ordered released before he got into office. Because we are a nation of laws he has to respect the courts' decisions.

4. Those who can be tranferred to another country. Fifty people so far fit into that category.

5. Those who can't be prosecuted but also can't be released because they are dangerous. He says he will exhaust all legal avenues to insure they never get out.

President Obama acknowledges the political difficulties of closing GITMO. He references fear mongering 30 second Tee Vee ads and direct mailings. But he says we can't govern out of fear and the American people want him to get it right, not political posturing.

Then President Obama shifted to Security and Transparency. He contrasted his decision to release the 4 OLC memos recently with his decision to block the release of the torture photos. Makes the case that sometimes its appropriate to keep some things secret if members of the military's lives are at stake.

But he says that he will insist on oversight from both the Congress and Judicial branches of government. He says someone must always watch over the watchers.

He is concerned about overuse of the states secrets doctrine but has to be used at times.

He says he will not hold back information from the public just because it reveals an illegal act or something that is embarrassing.

He wants a stricter legal test for invoking states secrets.

Obama once again says he will focus on bringing more oversight from "co equal" branches of government.

He then talks about how some people still want to relitigate debates they have lost. IE Dick Cheney still advocating torture.

He is more interested in the Congress and DOJ investigating wrong doing from the Bush Administration than an independent commission.

President Obama talks about the two differing sides on torture on the extremes. On the left those who think we should reveal even our most important intelligence secrets. On the right there are those who, in President Obama's words, think "anything goes". Those who think the President can do whatever they want provided its a President they agree with. He says both sides in that debate are wrong.

Maybe the strongest part of the speech was the ending where President Obama said national security has to be an issue that brings us together not something that divides us. He talks about how some people (*cough*Republicans*cough) try to use national security as a wedge issue. But this is a time for the American people to come together to insure all of our safety.


I thought the speech while not necessarily strong on details of how he will ultimately deal with GITMO was pitch perfect for the American people and what a lot of people in the middle needed to hear from them. We simply can not allow fearmongering to take hold again in this country when we are talking about the serious task of keeping us all safe.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Senator Diane Feinstein continues the pushback on the GOP NIMBY fearmongering.

Can We Have More Of This Damnit!

Dick Durbin gave a speech on the floor of the Senate that I have been calling for for weeks. Its time for Democrats to own this issue and pushback on stupid ass right wing talking points about bringing GITMO detainees to American prisons. And I am hoping that maybe this will be the first step in Dick Durbin replacing Harry Reid as Majority Leader!

Can We Just Fire Harry Reid Already?

If you thought Congressional Democrats had changed their stripes just because President Obama got elected you would be wrong. The are still political cowards especially in the Senate where they are led by the perinnial bed wetter Harry Reid. I can't describe how frustrated and angry Reid's statement today on closing GITMO makes me. And the truth is this has nothing to do with he public good. It has everything to do with being too much of a pussy to get in front of the American people and fend of partisan attacks from Republicans about the "dangers" of putting GITMO detainees in American jails. Lets take a look at this dithering idiot's words.

Accepting the right wing’s baseless premise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) declared in a press conference today, “We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States.” In several tense back and forths with reporters, Reid said he opposes imprisoning detainees on U.S. soil, saying flatly, “We don’t want them around the United States”:

REID: I’m saying that the United States Senate, Democrats and Republicans, do not want terrorists to be released in the United States. That’s very clear.

QUESTION: No one’s talking about releasing them. We’re talking about putting them in prison somewhere in the United States.

REID: Can’t put them in prison unless you release them.

QUESTION: Sir, are you going to clarify that a little bit? …

REID: I can’t make it any more clear than the statement I have given to you. We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.

Later, Reid repeated that he would not support Guantanamo detainees being transferred to U.S prisons..."

Update: After the press conference today, Reid's office released the following statement:

"President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, Secretary Colin Powell, President Obama and I all agree – Guantanamo must be closed. President Obama’s approach is a responsible one. [...]

“The amendment Chairman Inouye has offered today recognizes that it would be premature for Congress to act before the Administration proposes its plan. I support his amendment. On two important points, however, we do not need to wait for any instruction – and there should be no misunderstanding. Let me be clear: Democrats will not move to close Guantanamo without a responsible plan in place to ensure Americans’ safety. And we will never allow a terrorist to be released into the United States.

“This amendment is as clear as day. It explicitly bars using the funds in this bill to ‘transfer, release or incarcerate’ any of the Guantanamo detainees in the United States. When the Administration closes Guantanamo, we will ensure it does so the right way.”

What a steaming pile of feckless cowardly bullshit! Who the fuck is really scared of people locked up in a supermax prison or a military facility? And yet here is Harry Reid giving Republicans and their fearmongering arguments all of the legitimacy they have never deserved and all in the interest of politics. Make no mistake about it this is just a political game of cover your ass. Its the same political game that gave us that shitty assed FISA bill last year so as to not "hurt Democratic chances in the election". Now that we have a damn near filibuster proof Senate and the Presidency and the House by a wide margin this muthafucka still doesn't have the balls to do the right thing instead of the most politically correct thing. If there are any Democrats who disagree with Harry Reid I hope they ring the bell loud and often and hopefully someone could challenge his dumb ass for the Majority Leader's seat. What fucking difference does it make to elect Democrats if at the first sign of Republicans attacking they fold like cheap lawn chairs?

Fucking unbelievable.


(h/t gunny)

YIMBY

Turns out there ARE some cities in America that not only aren't afraid of housing GITMO detainees in their jail, they are practically BEGGING to do so.

A frequent attack on the closure of Guantanamo is the claim that no one in the U.S. wants detainees housed in their backyard. Last Sunday, Dick Cheney remarked, “I don’t know a single congressional district in this country that is going to say, gee, great, they’re sending us 20 Al Qaida terrorists.” But Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds reports that the town of Hardin, MT requesting that 100 detainees be sent to its empty prison:

Earlier this month, Hardin’s town council voted unanimously to offer the US government a deal: Send Hardin the detainees that most foreign countries and other cities the US are afraid to take.

“Why not us?” [Greg Smith, Hardin's economic development director] asks. “They’ve got to go somewhere.” He dismisses security concerns over housing inmates former Bush administration officials famously described as “the worst of the worst”. “We have some very hardened criminals in our own country that have committed some heinous crimes, and they are in communities all across this country,” Smith argues. [...]

He estimates at least 100 new jobs would come from filling the prison, a real boost to this small, beleaguered community. Smith describes the town’s quest to become a new penal colony as “a piece of the American dream.” “Like anything in America, we’re looking for opportunities,” he says.

Isn't it about time that our Democratic leaders in the Congress stopped hiding behind this bullshit line anyway? Our prisons can hold those assholes and nobody will be put at any more danger than they already are. Its time to close GITMO and its time that our Democratic Congress gets with that program.

Jim Webb Chooses Politics Over Policy

I have had a lot of good things to say about Jim Webb over he past few months. His willingness to try to bring reform to our prison system and his keeping an open mind about legalizing marijuana made me somewhat a fan of his. But this morning Jim Webb was a major dissappointment. He embraced NIMBY as a political stance obviously because he fears Republican attacks on him and he rejected the idea of a truth commission.




First on the subject of the Uigyurs obviously Jim Webb contradicts himself. First he says detainees should get their day in court and then we should accept what happens. Then he says he wouldn't want the Uigyurs coming to Virginia. But Uigyurs DID have their day in court and a judge decided they were not guilty and not dangerous. Now coincidentally just the other night hilzoy had two really good posts on who the Uigyurs are and how they got to be conflated with terrorists in the first place. The first one focused on who they are.

Here's a description (pdf, see pp. 211-212) of the Uighurs from an FBI report filed in 2004, and describing a visit in 2002. It follows what seems to be an account of abuse of one of the Uighurs:

"The Uighurs are moderate Muslims who occupied East Turkestan, which was taken over by the Chinese and renamed the Xinjiang province of China. The Uighurs were offered land in Afghanistan in order to gather personnel opposing Chinese oppression. They were often inspired by Radio Free Asia, which [redacted] was often a broadcaster for. The Uighurs considered themselves to be fighting for democracy, and they idolized the United States. Although the Uighurs are Muslim their agenda did not appear to include Islamic radicalism. They claimed to have no political connection to Islamic terrorists or the Taliban. However, their camp in Afghanistan was bombed, and they fled to Pakistan. The Uighurs were captured by the Pakistanis, with half being transferred to US custody, and half being remanded directly to Chinese officials. It was alleged that the Uighurs who were transferred directly to the Chinese were immediately executed. At the time of my TDY, US officials were considering whether to return the Uighurs to the Chinese, possibly to gain support for anticipated US action in the Middle East. The Uighur detainees at GTMO were convinced that they would be immediately executed if they were returned to China."

That's not a defense lawyer speaking; it's an FBI agent, interviewing them about a year after their detention. These are not terrorists. These are people we picked up by mistake

And the other focused on who they aren't.

The Uighurs were at a camp, or a village, run by ETIM in 2001. Abdul Haq is supposed to have been a member of al Qaeda's shura since 2005, years after the detainees had anything to do with him. If there is evidence that he or his group were affiliated with al Qaeda in 2001, I do not know of it, and the Uighurs have consistently denied any affiliation with al Qaeda.

So Jim Webb is either ill informed or is willingly fearmongering so as to hold up the closing of GITMO. You know I hate to say it but when Democrats allow themselves to be played like this by Republicans then they actually deserve to get their asses kicked in the next election. There is no need for them to allow the right wing to dominate this issue in the way that it has but its going to take someone with brass balls to stand up to them. I kinda thought it might have been a guy like Jim Webb. Obviously I was wrong.

Run For The HIlls!

This is pretty much the appropriate response to the GOP fearmongering these days. Great job Rachel.

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Thank You HIlzoy

I guess I am not the only one who thinks the GOP's NIMBY campaign is utterly ridiculous. Hilzoy made this video in response to the new GOP fearmongering GITMO detainee video and I think it perfectly encapsulates the absurdity at work here.

Hopefully a Democratic lawmaker will see this video and step up to the plate.

Democrats, GITMO Detainees, And NIMBY

I for one am getting sick and damned tired of hearing about the GOP ramping up a fear campaign against Congressional Democrats when it comes to National Security. Specifically, now they are going to try to hit Democrats with ads about closing GITMO and "ZOMG teh terrorists will be in America". This is the latest lame ass offering.




Here is the deal, Congressional Democrats have an opportunity here and they are squandering it. What they need to do is stand up and say that they would welcome the opportunity to house some of the detainees in their state. Not only should they project an aura of confidence that American jails can hold foreign terrorists, but also that the move could help create more jobs in their state. They should also point out that those who wouldn’t be similarly enthusiastic about helping to maintain our national security are COWARDS. This NIMBY bullshit that the Republicans are embracing is exactly the chance Dems have been waiting for for years to be able to wrest the mantle of “tough on crime” and “strong on national security” from the GOP. I can’t for the life of me understand why they are scared to take Republican on with this issue. The detainees will be in supermax prisons. They don’t have any frikkin superpowers to be able to break out. And by not confronting the GOP on this and in some cases actually agreeing with them that it would be dangerous to house detainees on US soild they are not only legitimizing what is at its core a nonsensical viewpoint, they are also opening themselves up to charges of being weak on defense of the homeland.

Fuck it, if the Republicans are going to use the issue anyway its time to make them pay for being the bed wetting pussies that they really are. I keep waiting to hear “Send them to us, we know just how to handle them” from ANYBODY in the Democratic caucus but it seems like they are just going to allow Republicans to frame this issue and then turn around and use it as a platform to run against them next year. I can’t tell you how stupid that is and how much it frustrates the hell out of me. We have the WTC bombers in jail in Colorado for pete’s sake along with the Oklahoma City bombers. We have a long and storied history of locking up the most dangerous people in our society and in fact the world in our prisons here. Why in the fuck should Democrats now show so little faith in their consituents that they run away from an issue that they could clearly win on? Somebody needs to step up to the plate and in a frikkin hurry.